Saturday, February 9, 2013

Drowning in snow

When I got up this morning it was still dark, so I didn't really get a
good feel for how much snow was actually out there. Hubby had left me a
note before he went to bed, that there was no hot water, the snow
amount was f'ed up, and not to start anything before he got up.

As
I opened the garage door to venture down to the barn for the morning
chores, I got a good grip on the lay of the land. The snow was almost
to my waist, and all I could do was wade or wobble, call it whatever you
want, down to the barn. I don't know how many times I lost balance and
just keeled over. Getting to the barn I had to dig out enough room to
open the door. Once that was done, easy breezy. The boys and girls were
warm and dry.

Once the chores were done, I figured I'd have a look
at the hot water issue as there will be need for hot showers for sure.
We have a wall hung on demand water heater and propane. After looking
through the instructions manual, and finding the various error codes I
tried to reset the whole thing. Nope, didn't work. But at least the
error code gave an idea that it had something to do with not enough
pressure. Aha!! The vent!! The boiler was working just fine and gave
plenty hot air. So I figured the vent must be blocked or something. I
ventured out and made my way behind the house where I thought the vent
was, and started digging. Sure enough. Cleared the vent so the system
could breath, and waded back inside to test it out. Bingo!! We have hot
water again.

From then on I went into procrastination mode for a
bit. Made some lip balms, tied up some loose ends on some mittens, and
made my mite salve. Now I have to muster up enough gusto to just get out
there and get going. First thing is getting the driveway cleared, then
the rest will have to come after that. Trying to figure out where the
best place will be to dig out for a poop pile. Will figure that out as
we move along. Also have to dig out around the doors in the barn, so I
can open up and the critters can have a view and not feel too cooped up.
Not that they would venture outside anyway, but at least they can look
outside. I hate having them cooped up.